Fractured Stars

by Lindsay Buroker

  She smiled, liking that idea, especially for Axton.

  “That would not solve the problem that imperial law enforcement is soon to know that I’m stolen property,” Scipio said. “Though I would prefer to continue to work with you as your business partner, I do not wish your freedom or person to be endangered because you assisted me.”

  “Scipio—”

  He never interrupted her, but he lifted his hand and interrupted her now.

  “Your loyalty to your friends is to be commended, Captain, but it is anathema to my programming to endanger those I consider friends. I will seek a chance to sneak off the ship on Frost Moon 3 while the sheriff is busy handing off his prisoners. Once I am able to reach a space port or other planet-side area with a communications station, I will send a message to imperial law enforcement, informing them that you were unaware of where I came from and that I left the facility and my previous owner of my own volition. It is not without precedent. There have been cases where androids attempted to proclaim their freedom from their owners and decide their own fate.”

  “Androids that go rogue like that are destroyed.”

  “Only if they are recovered. I can survive on Frost Moon 3, if need be. I daresay nobody will bother looking for me.”

  “Because it’s a thousand degrees below zero down there. Your circuits will freeze.”

  “On the contrary. It averages merely twenty degrees Fahrenheit below zero on most of the tundras and ice caps. I am perfectly capable of functioning in such environments and even in space itself, as you know since I have gone out to repair the ship before.”

  “Scipio…” McCall groaned and dropped her face into her hands. “What are you going to do on a frozen tundra? That’s a waste of your abilities, and… and—” She tried to swallow down the emotion thickening in her throat. “I would miss you.”

  Scipio stepped forward and rested a hand on her shoulder.

  She gave him an anguished look, groping for something to say to sway him, something that could keep both of them from getting into trouble.

  “I know you prefer not to be touched, but my programming in social protocols strongly suggests that simians find physical contact comforting in situations such as this.”

  “It’s fine, Scipio.” McCall waved to his hand. “I’m just frustrated. I don’t know what to do.”

  “My solution is the best one.”

  “Your solution bites.”

  “It bites bestly,” he assured her with a firm nod.

  “Was that an attempt at humor?”

  “Yes. Did it lighten your mood?”

  “No.”

  “Are you certain? My files on humor suggest that alliteration and creativity with word play can elicit surprise and a feeling of amusement from listeners.”

  “Not in this situation,” she said glumly. “Not in this situation.”

  5

  A blast of frigid air slammed into Dash as the cargo hatch opened and the Star Surfer’s ramp lowered. Snow flew past sideways, but he couldn’t tell if it was falling from the slate gray sky or merely being hurled about by the wind.

  During his career as a bounty hunter, Dash had captured numerous criminals who had eventually been condemned to the mines of Frost Moon 3, but he’d never been here himself. He could already tell it wouldn’t go on his list of places he wanted to revisit.

  Axton marched past him, prodding the six prisoners to walk out ahead of him, using his rifle and his burly cyborg muscles to keep them in line. He wore his combat armor and helmet, so he would be impervious to the cold. The prisoners weren’t so lucky. They walked with their heads bowed and their hands stuffed into pockets or under armpits.

  Snow immediately stuck to Rose Akerele’s short, tightly curled hair, and when she glanced at Dash, her dark eyes were full of misery and the knowledge that her situation would only get worse. Oddly, he didn’t see regret in her gaze or get a sense of it in her thoughts. She accepted that she’d chosen to join the Alliance, and it had resulted in her ending up here.

  Dash felt regret. The Star Surfer hadn’t crossed paths with any other ships on the way to the moon, nor had there been any stopovers on stations or planets. He hadn’t found an opportunity to get past Axton and accidentally let the prisoners out of their cell, though that probably wouldn’t have done anything except get them killed. When it came to battles, Axton was the equal of numerous men, and Dash doubted McCall’s android would have stepped aside and let prisoners take over NavCom.

  Dash feared the best he would be able to do was send a message later to let the Alliance know where Akerele was and hope they could stage a rescue. He couldn’t help but feel he’d failed. Yes, he’d been placed undercover to gather information, not free prisoners, but would the higher-ups forgive him when they learned he’d merely stood by and let one of their leaders be marched into a prison mine? Was there any chance he might yet do something?

  He looked around thoughtfully. McCall and her android stood at the top of the cargo ramp, also watching the prisoners disembark. Dash stood near them, his hand on his stun gun and his BlazTech pistol hanging in its holster. Axton had ordered him to ensure McCall didn’t try to take off without the two of them.

  The prisoner delivery depot was a simple landing pad and an entrance to an underground facility and the mines. There weren’t any other ships around, nor did Dash even see any ground vehicles. It was more than a hundred miles across a frozen tundra and an ice-smothered mountain range to the nearest domed city, which may or may not have any ships capable of flying into space.

  Dash wouldn’t blame McCall if she tried to ditch them, but he shuddered at the idea of being stuck here with Axton. Or with anyone.

  The wind gusted harder, and Dash could feel his nostril hairs withering and dying. The air stung to breathe and seemed to burn all the way down his windpipe and into his lungs, leaving his insides feeling raw.

  Through the white haze, he could make out a few figures exiting the door in the windowless cement dome, the only part of the facility above ground. They wore thick jackets, heavy boots, and headwear that covered their faces, protecting them from the cold. They carried bulky blazer rifles, shielded to work in extreme conditions, and pointed the weapons at the prisoners as Axton approached with them.

  It crossed Dash’s mind to shoot Axton in the back right there, while there was still time for the prisoners to race back into the ship, but if he’d intended to do that, it should have been when Axton wasn’t in combat armor. He’d missed his chance. He’d missed many of them. All because he’d feared the consequences of breaking his cover. And maybe, he admitted with disgust, he’d feared Axton a little bit too.

  “Scipio?” McCall reached for the android.

  Dash hadn’t heard it make any noise, but its face seemed stuck in an expressionless position, and it wobbled on its feet. Before McCall could catch the android’s arm, it pitched backward onto the deck.

  Dash glanced toward Axton and caught him looking back with a smug smirk on his face. Had he sabotaged the android somehow? Why?

  Abruptly, Dash realized Axton must have received information back on the android. Along with orders to detain it or render it inoperable? Dash was surprised Axton hadn’t shared the information or any of his plans with him.

  “Dash,” Axton yelled over the wind. “Come down here.”

  He pointed to the icy cement beside him.

  Dash glanced at McCall. She knelt by the android—it lay flat on its back, unmoving—and glared, not at Axton but at Dash, as if she believed he’d done this.

  Guilt stabbed him. He might as well have done it. He’d been the one to alert Axton.

  The guards with their big guns had come forward to take the prisoners, guiding them toward the door in the dome. The prisoners, led by their escorts, bowed their heads lower and hunched their shoulders as they headed for it.

  Axton pointed at the ground next to him again as he glared at Dash.

  Dash walked down the ramp to join him and fin
d out what he’d done to McCall’s android. Not, he told himself, because he was a dog obeying his master.

  McCall surged past him, reaching Axton first. She gripped her stun gun, pointing it at him, though it wouldn’t do any good when he wore that armor. She could stun Dash. He shivered in nothing but his law-enforcer uniform, the icy wind needling him through the material.

  Aside from a snagor-hide jacket, McCall was no more protected from the cold than he. Her hand was bare, but it didn’t shake as she pointed the weapon at Axton.

  “What did you do to Scipio?” she demanded.

  She must have known the stun gun wouldn’t work on him—she was too smart not to—but maybe frustration and fear for her android friend stole her wisdom. She clenched the weapon so hard, it was in danger of breaking in half.

  “A simple CPU-lock,” Axton said blandly. “He’s not damaged. His systems are frozen until someone with the key removes it.”

  How had he gotten such a thing on the android? Simply ambled up and taken it by surprise?

  “Why?” McCall asked.

  “Because he’s your pilot, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t fly away while I’m taking care of business.”

  “I can fly the ship, too, jackass.”

  Her bluntness, especially when she’d been relatively polite and reserved around them, surprised a laugh out of Dash.

  Axton glared at him.

  Movement stirred at the door of the dome. A figure cloaked in furs with a hood pulled up sprinted out into the wan daylight. He tried to wrench one of the rifles out of a guard’s hands as he raced past, but the guard reacted too quickly. He jerked the weapon away and sprang back, making room to fire. And fire he did. All four of the guards on the landing pad did. As the man tried to sprint off into the storm, they slammed blazer bolts into his back.

  The man didn’t make it twenty yards before he pitched forward into the snow, screaming in pain.

  Dash gaped in horror as the guards calmly lowered their weapons. They turned their backs on the man, as if to say they would leave him—what remained of him—for the weather to finish off.

  An eerie predatory howl floated on the wind.

  The weather or the indigenous wildlife. Dash couldn’t believe any creatures had evolved on this horrible frozen planet, but it was possible that imperial scientists had genetically engineered animals to survive here, maybe as an extra layer of security to make sure prisoners didn’t escape. Or didn’t live long if they did.

  “Sheriff?” a muffled voice asked. One of the prison guards came forward, the other three men flanking him, all with weapons. “We’ve secured the first six prisoners.” No mention of the inmate who’d tried to escape. “Did you say you had more?”

  “Yes. This one too.” Axton pointed at Dash.

  At first, Dash was too startled and confused to react. Then the men pointed their rifles at him and stepped forward.

  “What?” Dash blurted.

  Axton smiled tightly. “You think I didn’t know you let those Alliance thugs beat down our ship, Deputy? You’re a damn Alliance sympathizer. I should have figured it out when you first got on my ship, you spineless lickspittle.”

  Dash stepped back, but his boot slipped off the cement and into the snow. Icy wind railed at him as one of the guards prodded him with the muzzle of his rifle. There was no place to go.

  Idiot, Dash groaned to himself. He’d known Axton was suspicious of him, but he hadn’t believed him smart enough to figure everything out. Dash hadn’t wanted to delve into the cyborg’s thoughts for fear of being caught, but now here he was. Caught. A damn idiot, he was.

  Dash looked at McCall, wishing this wasn’t happening in front of her. It was bad enough to be an idiot without having a woman around to witness it.

  She looked as stunned as he.

  “Take him below with the others,” Axton ordered the guards. “Feel free to let your current inmates know he was a law enforcer. And a traitor to the empire. I’m sure he’ll be extremely popular.”

  Dash doubted the inmates would care a whit that he was aligned with the Alliance—these people were all down here because the empire had deemed them criminals—but being known as a law enforcer… That would make a difference. They would all jump him at once if they were told about his current career. Or his old one. A bounty hunter wouldn’t be any more loved.

  “Wait,” McCall said, her voice barely audible over the wind.

  But Axton, with his augmented hearing, must have heard it easily enough for he turned to face her.

  “You can’t decide his fate,” she said. “It’s your duty to arrest a known Alliance sympathizer, yes, but you’re not a magistrate or judge. You can’t try him. You have to take him back to your headquarters and hand him over for due process.”

  “Due process.” Axton snorted. “Nobody will care if there’s due process for a traitor.”

  “There’s due process for everybody. That’s the law.” McCall clenched her jaw, as if she was truly affronted on Dash’s behalf.

  He appreciated that she wanted to stand up for him, but he didn’t want her irking Axton and getting in trouble. He’d seen the cyborg lose his temper before. It resulted in blood loss and sometimes death.

  Dash wished he had the mental power of so many of his Starseer relatives, wished he could attack Axton with his mind and knock the guards off the landing pad with a harsh blast of mental power. Granted, telekinetic strength like that was rare these days, but there were some Starseers with it. Not him. Not even close.

  “I’m the law in these parts,” Axton said, then turned his back to her. “Guards, take him. Now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Two guards reached for Dash as the other two kept their rifles on him. He doubted he had the power, but he had to do something. He tried to lash out with his mind at the two men holding weapons.

  They stumbled, weapons lowering for a second. Dash turned and punched one of them as he kicked out at the other. He connected with both, and for an instant, he thought he might be able to escape long enough to grab McCall and sprint back onto the ship. They could leave Axton and—

  No, Axton was far too fast for that. He stomped straight toward Dash.

  McCall ran up behind him, and a soft clank sounded. Had she hit him on the back? As if that would do anything. Even if he hadn’t been in armor, he would barely have felt it.

  The guard Dash had kicked recovered and reached for him. Dash blocked his grasping hand, then lunged toward the man, leading with an elbow. He rammed it into the man’s chest. Unfortunately, all those layers of clothing stole some of the power of the blow.

  Then Axton, in his hulking blue armor, loomed in front of him, and Dash knew it was over. He couldn’t throw an elbow and stop him.

  But he tried again to throw a mental attack. It had worked briefly against the others. He imagined a massive brown bramisar springing out of the snow and leaping for Axton and tried to thrust the image into his mind.

  Axton spun around. Not, Dash saw, because of the mental attack but because he realized something was on his back. He patted over his shoulder but couldn’t quite reach it.

  Dash couldn’t figure out what it was. It looked like the stun gun McCall had been holding, but it stuck to his armor as if it were a magnet.

  “Move, Arjun!” McCall barked.

  She skittered back toward the cargo ramp. Dash threw himself to the side, not knowing what to expect but trusting he didn’t want to be close to whatever it was.

  He crashed into one of the guards who was trying to grab him. Dash grabbed him back, cracked his head into the man’s nose, and twisted, pushing him toward Axton. He stomped on the guard’s instep to convince the man to let him go, then spun and ran. He only made it two steps before he floundered off the landing pad and into the deep snow. One more step and an explosion rang out, white light flashing behind him.

  A shockwave caught Dash, hurling him flat onto the snow. The icy stuff coated his face and hands, but he didn’t care
. He rolled to the side and scrambled to his feet.

  Two of the guards lay sprawled on the landing pad. Axton was down, too, the back of his armor charred black, his faceplate kissing the icy cement. He wasn’t moving.

  McCall ran up the cargo ramp. Dash scrambled back onto the cement pad and raced in that direction, visions of escaping in her ship returning to his mind. He doubted Axton was dead, but if he was concussed or stunned for only a minute, that was all it would—

  An armored hand blurred as it snaked out to clasp Dash’s ankle. Tremendous force clamped down, and he cried out, pitching to the cement.

  Axton moved faster than any genetically engineered predator, and before Dash hit the ground, he found himself turned on his back and smothered by the angry cyborg. Axton’s face was contorted with fury behind the faceplate.

  Dash tried to bring a knee up to protect himself, but it cracked uselessly against that armor. He twisted and bucked, but there was no point. He couldn’t have escaped Axton even if the man hadn’t worn combat armor.

  A woman’s shout came from the side. Dash twisted his head as much as he could, hoping to see the cargo ramp rising and McCall and her android escaping.

  But the ramp was still down. The two guards who hadn’t been caught in the explosion gripped McCall by either arm, and they were escorting her—forcing her—down to the landing pad.

  “Take her into that hell too,” Axton snarled.

  “What?” Dash blurted.

  “She’s got a stolen android aboard her ship. That makes her a criminal, and she deserves to mine right alongside the rest of the criminals.”

  The guards paused, looked at each other, then looked at Axton. “Are you sure she’s—”

  “Take her.” Axton rolled to his feet, hoisting Dash up with him.

  Dash felt like a doll in the hulking man’s grip, his boots barely touching the cement.